Race Report: Woodruf YMCA Tri

Hard to believe but I had not showed up to race a triathlon in over 18 months. It almost felt strange pulling up to the race but as soon as I had my bike on a transition rack I was feeling the mixture of nerves and excitement that only the start of a triathlon can provide me. The race was a sprint triathlon which is the opposite of the ironman. The idea of this race is to go as hard as you can for a short distance (about an hour or less) and see if you can hold on. Unlike an ironman were you need to pace yourself and worry about nutrition, in the sprint triathlon it is just go fast and hold on.

 

The race started with a pool swim of 300 yards. This is a great swim for me because it is so short that I am not completely out of the race by the time I leave the water (I am a terrible swimmer). I actually swam the race about 15 seconds faster than I have ever covered that distance before. I was out of the water in 5:45 and running towards the bike.

 

It was a chilly 48 degrees and I was wet from the swim so I needed to put on a long sleeve shirt and socks before I could ride the bike. This slowed my transition time down a little but in no time at all I was jumping on to my bike and cranking my legs out of the parking lot. On the bike course I started to quickly pull the fast swimmers in one by one. Although I never caught the lead group on the bike I was able to get up to the fourth spot in the race before I headed out to run. My average speed on the bike was 20 MPH which I was pretty happy with.

 

The run course was empty, which I am not accustomed to so I needed to find my own pace and push it by myself. It wasn’t until a half mile remaining in the race that I was passed by the eventual 4^th place finisher. I knew that he would get me eventually so I was not surprised by him. As I made the run back into the parking lot I was surprise to see another racer coming up hard behind me. I immediately pushed as hard as I could to counter his move but there was no way for me to react. I had burned myself up to get to the end of the race so I didn’t have a lot of kick left in my legs.

 

I finished the race 6^th overall and 2^nd in my age group. I was very pleased with the results. It was great to race again and remind myself why I get up early and give so much of my body every day to do this.

New Look for 2015

Special thanks to the CMAK foundation and the Kowalski family for providing me this sharp looking race kit for the season!  I am extremely proud to race in the foundations colors this year and to get the chance to represent Chase.  The best part is that anytime I need motivation during a race I can just look down and find it.

Please check out this brief write up about me in this article from the Newtown Bee: http://newtownbee.com/news/features/2015/04/03/top-mountain/260048

Please be sure to visit my donation page and help me reach my goal of raising $5000 for Chase this year.

Race Reprt: Danbury Half Marathon 3/29/15

It started as a chilly morning at Rogers Park in Danbury but the sun was shining and it soon warmed up after the race started.  I was excited to race for the first time in over a year. Prior to the race I was able to meet up with Kevin Grimes who is the director for the Race for Chase Program and a very accomplished runner/ triathlete.

 

I had a soft time goal for the race of averaging a 10:00 per mile pace or a 2:11:00 time for the race. My strategy was to hold a good pace until I got the hills and then hold on until mile 10. The final 3 mile stretch I would try to hold a good pace for the last 5k.

 

The race started with an easy rolling loop around the park for about 2 miles then headed towards Bethel (the town I grew up in). The course was relatively flat and fast for the first 7.5 miles. I was on pace to run a much faster time than 2:11:00 so I adjusted my plan accordingly. I was feeling strong five miles in and decided that I was going to run 9:30 miles until the hills. At mile 8 I was dead on to that pace. 

 

The hills were crushing. I watched my watch as my pace dropped off to 10:00 minutes per mile. Lots of volunteers on the course assured us that the hills were almost over but they all seem to have miscalculated there assessment of the course. Finally after mile 10 the hills broke and I started a long fast decent back into Danbury.

 

I finished the run strong at 2:09:39. Not a PR or a great time by any stretch but I meet my goals for the day and I got back into racing again.